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DCS AT SPIRITLAND

Data Conversion Systems Ltd writes: "This week are very excited to be celebrating our 30th Anniversary at Paul Noble's Spiritland just as they celebrate their 1st Anniversary. Read on to find out how the dCS and Spiritland collaboration came about..

It’s hardly surprising that people love working with dCS. The company is constantly “on tour” around the world, attending hi-fi shows and other events that showcase its unique products. Sometimes however, things work the other way round. Managing director David J Steven heard of an interesting new venture in London, and wanted to know more. “I met with Paul Noble a while back”, he says. “A contact I have got in property knows that I have eclectic taste in music and cocktails – and he said Spiritland would be right up my street. We got on really well and his concept was perfect. I’d been to some “audiophile bars” in Tokyo and this seemed familiar. So I offered to help him with some equipment, and things progressed from that.”

Spiritland’s Artistic Director, Paul Noble, describes the new collaboration as being, “for people who want a hospitality experience with incredible music, superb food and drink, and who don’t necessarily come from club culture, so they take the long view of music. By this, I mean they love jazz, soul, rock, country, pop, reggae – all different genres. It could be from yesterday or it could be from seventy years ago – but wherever you meet the Spiritland brand there’s a level of quality there that’s really special. The music, the food and drink, the programming, the equipment, the environment is just unlike anything anyone else is doing. We launched in September of 2016, at 9-10 Stable Street, London N1C 4AB. Let’s just say that we’re doing it with a level of integrity that is uncommon.”

dCS’s David J Steven takes up the story. “Well, we wondered if the Vivaldi DAC would help Paul, and also we offered to get the streaming set up there. The rest was history and he went on to get a great sound. Then that was pretty much it, until we saw their one year anniversary was coming up. Every time I was down there I saw the Vivaldi sitting in the rack and thought it would be great if we had something that tied in with the look and the feel of the place, and maybe matched the mixer. Our engineers knocked up some concepts and did some back and forward with Paul and the creative team there. The next thing that we knew, we were making a bespoke Vivaldi One for him…”

Paul adds, “Since we found our space at King’s Cross in London, what we’ve been doing is essentially a full music brand. There’s a café and a workspace during the day with background music playing, there’s a restaurant, you know, we’ve had incredible reviews, for the food The Telegraph gave us a five-star review for which we are honoured. And we have what we think is one of the world’s best sound systems – that’s now even more special with a bespoke Spiritland dCS Vivaldi One. It’s got our look, our branding. It’s really cool!”

The Vivaldi One – launched to celebrate the company’s thirtieth anniversary – is already a super-special limited edition product, but the Spiritland Vivaldi One is the first time that dCS has done a bespoke version for a commercial organisation. It sports a black anodised Vivaldi One casing, with contrasting brass tactile components. There’s a brass tray front, brass interference buttons, a brass volume control with Spiritland logo inset into the front face, and optional brass feet. There’s also a uniquely engraved brass nameplate on the rear panel, too. As you would expect, it retains the machine’s dCS Ring DAC (in its very latest guise), Esoteric-sourced dual laser CD/SACD mechanism, specially designed UPnP Network interface and multiplicity of digital inputs…

“This has been another level of challenge”, says David J Steven. “The special anodising of the casework, the lacquer and painting of the casework, and the brass parts all have to come off the machine perfectly. Even with these special finishes we have tried to use all UK suppliers. That is something that is important to us. All the effort is worth it though – because the new Spiritland Vivaldi One will get them flexibility that they didn’t have before. Now they can stream via Tidal, and they’ve got a very big NAS drive full of music too. They can even spin Compact Discs or SACDs if they want. They’ve got all kinds of people coming through, all kinds of musical formats. It’s much more useful for them!”

Due for delivery to Spiritland in early November, music loving Londoners – or visitors to the UK’s great capital city – have their own chance to hear one of the finest sound systems around, headed up by a totally unique dCS product. And while you’re marvelling at the music, there’s always the fine food and drink, should you feel the need. “I knew and loved dCS before we worked together,” says Paul Noble, “and can’t tell you how happy I am with this.”

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